What Growing up looks like
by Nobody Else Just Me
Summary: This is another one of those 100 theme challenges. This may not be updated that much considering I use this to help my writer's block but it's still pretty good. Originally named "Memories"
1. Introduction

**Okay I am having some writer's block on what to do with my other story She wants to be famous!(Which if you haven't read you should!) so I figured I'd do the 100 theme challenge since all the authors I know do that when they get writer's block. So please don't get mad if it sucks, I'm just doing this for insperation. My OC, Charloette Seth Matthews, will be in here and anything that happens here has nothing to do with She wants to be famous!**

* * *

Introduction

It was a normal day at the local park in Minnesota. Kids were everywhere, playing on the jungle gym, in the sand box, and on the grass. A young latino boy, about the age of 5, was playing on the bright yellow swirly slide continueously. When he went down for the 15th time, he came out in front of a girl with shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes in a green shirt and and jeans(those jeans for kids).

"Hi!" he said inthusiastically. He got up from the ground and patted himself down wiping off the dirt on his clothes. "I'm Carlos!" he stood in front of her flashing her a wide grin. She looked at him blankly then a smile crept on her face.

"I'm Charloette!" She replied "Me and my mommy just moved here. Wanna be friends?"

"But your a girl."

"So?"

"Girls are supposed to think boys are icky."

"My broder told me I'm a tomboy."

"What's that?"

"I dunno know, but if I'm a tomboy then that means I'm not a girl. So we _can_ be friends." Carlos thought it over, his five year old mind trying to comprehend.

"I guess. So we're friends now."

"Yay!" They hugged. "What should we-" She was cut off as a red headed boy called over all of them. He stood in front of the playground.

"I want everyone to get in a straight line. Boys on this side and girls on this side." There was a pause as everyone just quietly kept still.

"Now!" he yelled. All the kids scurried to get in a front line in front of him. Carlos grabbed Charloette's hand and dragged her along. They both stood in the boys line.

"Carlos, what's going on? Who is that big kid?" Charloette whispered.

"That's Jimmy Wilkins. He's 10 years old so have to listen to him or he'll beat you up."

"Okay!" Jimmy called. "Everyone hand over your snacks." The little ones immeadiatly listened. They pulled out there juice boxes, there candy bars, and all kinds of assortments of foods from their pockets. He began down the boys' line collecting their things. He stopped in front of a boy with short black hair.

"What's this?" He said holding up a platic baggy in front of the boys face.

"I-it's trail mix." He replied. "My mommy doesn't like it when I eat non-healthy foods so she gives me trail mix."

"Well, your mommy's stupid." All the children gasped. He said the 'S' word. The little boy had tears forming in his eyes.

"M-My mommy's not stupid!" He protested. Jimmy grabbed him by his shirt.

"Better not talk back to me, or else..." he trailed off as he raised his fist. The boy flinched a little. He let go of him.

"Next time you better not bring your dumb trail mix." He spat toward him throwing his trail mix to the ground. He continued down the line. He stopped in front of charloette this time.

"I thought I said girls on that side. This is the boys line."

"But I'm not a girl, I'm a tomboy." She said as if it was obvious. The boy from earlier stepped out a plainly said,

"A tomboy is still a girl but just a girl who acts like a boy." Jimmy turned around back to the boy and grabbed him by his shirt again.

"I thought I told you to be quiet!" He hissed.

"But you didn't tell him that." The boy standing next to him said. He had long brown hair and a pretty face, for a boy. "So you shouldn't get so mad at him."

"Who asked you?"

"No one." He said after a moments thought.

"Exactly so just keep your mouth shut and don't say anything."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Carlos asked out loud, forgetting who he was dealing with. Charloette and the boy next to her tried not to laugh at his blaten comment but couldn't help themselves.

"Oh so look who's the funny guy?" he said turning to Carlos, not paying any more attention to the little scared boy. Carlos turned pale when all of Jimmy's focus was now on him.

"Ya know I didn't think that was very funny."

"I did." Said the boy standing next to Charloette. He had shaggy dirty bond hair and pearcing green eyes. His comment earned a smile from Carlos and Charloette.

"Oh did you? Well I hope you think this is funny." He raised his fist about to hit the boy that was until a weight tackled him down.

"What the?" He said as he landed on his back. On top of him was Charloette. She had tacklede him down to stop from hitting the boy.

"Why you?" He was about to get her but she quickly got up and backed away. He got up to see the kids forming a sort of circle around the two.

"I'm gonna get you!" he yelled charging toward her. She stood there motionless too afraid to move.

He was mere inches away from her when another force tackled him down while two others grabbed Charloette. The force had been the blonde and the pretty looking boy. They quickly got up and ran with Carlos and the smaller boy dragging Charloette with them. Jimmy got back up and continued to chase after them. They were running as hard as they could from the bully.

Him being older and having longer legs was able to catch up to them easily. He ran ahead and stopped in front of them causing them to stop to a halt.

"Now I got you." He said stepping closer. All of them were pretty terrified at this point. So Charloette did what her older brother had always told her to do in situations like this. She quickly ran up to him and punched him as hard as she could in the crotch.

He went down gripping his private area in pain. They ran off toward the one place they new was safe from any bully. They went to the area where the adults hung out. They stopped right in front of the area panting and leaning forward on their knees.

"That..was close." Charloette said between pants.

"Yeah, smart thinking hitting him." The smaller boy said. "My name's Logan." He said straightening up. They all straitened up finally catching their breath.

"I'm Carlos, and this is my new friend Charlie." he said reffurring to Charloette. She waved to them smiling. Her smile quickly changed to confusion.

"But my names Charloette."

"But if your a tomboy then you need a tomboy name."

"Cool!" She exclaimed. "So what are your names?" She said to the pretty boy and blonde boy.

"I'm Kendell," The blonde said.

"And I'm James." The pretty boy spoke up. "By dah way, thanks for distracting Jimmy, James." Logan said reffurring to when he got attacked again.

"I'd thank Carlos, Jimmy would've killed me if Carlos didn't say anything."

"No, Kendell. Cuz he's the one that thought I was funny."

"I think it was Charlie, she stopped him from hitting me and she hit Jimmy in his no-no sqaure!"

"Well, Jimmy would have already hurt me if Logan hadn't esplained what a tomboy was." she took a pause. "Is that really what a tomboy is?"

"Yep, my mommy told me. She's smart."

"Cool," She took another pause.

"Do ya'll guys wanna be friends?" They looked at each other and exclaimed together.

"Sure!"

The continued to talk and tell each othe stories. They found out they were all going into the same school and that they didn't even live that far away. When it was time to go, they introduced their parents to each other. They were happy for them, how great friends they were. They would continue to keep in touch for the childrens sake. Shedule play dates and other forms of social gathering. As long as they were together.

Thus blossomed their everlasting friendship.

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**Pretty cute huh? Just letting you be aware this isn't how they meet in She wants to be famous! Although it will contain Jimmy Wilkins, our lovable bully who you will see in both this story and my other one. But yea I'm still working out how they really meet. Also I am taking official requests for BTR, just no slashed please! Not exactly fond of those. If I do end up taking your requests I will make a new story of it and put your screen name in the description or title or something.**


	2. Love

Love

There are 2 kinds of love in this world. Family love, where you love your family and anyone who feels like family, and Love love, where you find that one person you want to spend the rest of your life with. Charloette experienced one of those loves when dealing with the tragic of the other love.

Charloette had a boyfriend, his name was Abner Williams, he had short spiky brown hair with a bit of a red tint, that she loved to run her hands through, he had one of his ears pierced with a diamond stud. He was perfect.

One day, she decided to give him a suprise visit, considering he had been sick for the past couple of days. She had came into his house, with the key that he gave her. When she walked into the living room, she saw her boyfriend making out with the slut of the school, Mia Jacobs.

At first she couldn't move, in shock. When he finally stopped swapping spit long enough to realize Charloette was there, he pushed Mia off, started towards her and gave her an asccuse how it wasn't what it looked like. But she new it was exactly that.

Without ever answering him, she ran out of the house in tears, she ran all the way home, burst through the door to her house, ran all the way to her room, jumped on her bed, and cried to herself.

For the next couple of days she basically wallowed in self pity. She talked to no one. Not even when the guys they visited her. No one knew why she was upset, except Abner of course. And that little slut, Mia, who was horrible at keeping secrets.

Mia went around the town, and told the entire teenage status the events that had accured at Abner's house. The boys found this out _after_ they visited Charloette. When they found out they were furious. They new how much Charloette liked him.

They decided to confront him before they went to go talk to Charloette.

* * *

The boys walked into Charloette's room with a limp and some bruises on there faces.

"Guys?" she sniffed. "What happened to you?" She was currently in her bed, tissues surrounding her, her in her PJ's, and her eyes a little puffy. They limped over to her bed and colapsed near her.

"We heard about you and Abner." Logan said.

"How'd you hear about it?"

"We heard it from Shanelle, who heard it from Stephanie, who heard it from Matt, who heard it from Serge, who heard it from a bunch of girls, who heard it from Mia." Carlos said.

"Oh." She said, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Well," Kendell started. "when we found out, we decided to confront Abner."

"You do know he's a 5 year championship black belt right?"

"Yeah, figured that out when he flipped us." James said rubbing a bruise on his arm.

Charloette laughed a bit, imagining the situation. That was the first time they heard her laugh in forever.

"So what exactly happened when you confonted him?"

"We went up to him, told him we knew, he tried to tell us it was a big mistake, we told him he was the mistake."

"Nice."

"Yeah, then we told him how much you liked him, then he started to walk away, we yelled at him, then shoved him a couple of times, he said he didn't want to hurt us, we laughed,"

"That was probably our first mistake." James commented.

"When we got closer was when he started flipping us." Charloette smiled, she may have had the worst boyfriend in the world, but she always had her boys to cheer her up and make her feel better.

"What I don't get is why we got back up thinking we could take him?" Carlos said.

"I think," Charloette started. "it's because you guys are the bestest friends ever and you'd do anything anything for me." The boys smiled humbly.

"It's not that hard considering how great a friend you are." James said. Charloette smiled and shoved him playfully.

"So are you ok now?" Logan asked.

"Better than okay, thanks to you guys. How about a round of hockey?"

"Yeah, me and Charlie vs. James, Logan, and Kendell." Carlos said hoping to his feet.

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

And that was when Charloette experienced the pain of Love love, the healing of family Love, and the reassurance that she had the greatest friends in the world.

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**This one was way cute~ I was able to include my siblings in it too. The people Carlos lists are the names of my brothers and sisters. Sorry if you read the earlier one, there was like a glitch or something and only like half the chapter came out. Weird.**


	3. Light

Light

If you were to ask Charloette what came to mind when you said light, she would say Carlos. If you were to ask Carlos what came to mind when you said light, he would say Charloette. They were each other's light. When one was down, the other was there to lift them up.

And it wasn't just each other, it was anyone who needed a good pick-me up. They were there for friends, enemies, anyone who just needed a good pat on the back. They themsleves were considered like rays of sunshine come to brighten any grey cloud that threatened to ruin your day.

They could put a smile on your face by just flashing their goofy wide grins and exherting their positive bright kids, that brought joy to others, got joy just by making others smile.

Now, to recap when one was sad the other would make them happy. But, what if...they were both sad? Obviously they couldn't make each other happy. So that would leave others without there light, to shine there day.

For once, it would be dark.


	4. Dark

Dark

12 year old, Carlos and Charloette had been acting different and their friends were starting to notice. They didn't talk much, didn't yell, and they stopped smiling. They held faces of deep thought on them with expressions that either held sadness or anger. It was as if a dark cloud had consumed there normal personality's and replaced them with ones of distress.

Kendall, Logan, and James, having to endure there new change in attitude for a week, decided to confront them, unable to stand the light that had stopped emitting from them. They split up ino teams, Logan had Carlos and James and Kendall had Charlie.

When Logan approached Carlos, he learned some depressing news and immediately understood his depressing manor. When Kendall and James, Kendall did most of the talking while James just sat in the background keeping to himself. Charloette had told them of her situation.

It was not as saddening like Carlos' but it effected her all the more. The boys met back up, swapping stories. Each felt bad for the other. With the confrontation not helping the situation, they came up with something new. Well Logan had, he figured if them talking to each other always made them feel better that it would be no different.

The only problem was how to get them in the same place. But that didn't seem so hard with the help of one little girl...7 year old Katie Knight.

* * *

Charloette was racing through the forest. He had heard from Kendall that Katie was stuck in their old tree house. She stopped what she was doing and ran out her house, and into the woods. When she got there she saw Kendall and James looking up at the tree house.

"Hey." she said panting afterwards. "I got here as fast as I could. What's up?"

"It's Katie!" Kendall exclaimed. "She's too scared to get down. I can't go up there because I sprained my ankle in Hockey." he pointed to his ankle that was wrapped in a bandage. "And James can't go because he gets dizzy standing up." James fell over to emphasize.

"Okay, so I'll go up there and convince her to get down." she explained he plan. She started to climb the ladder up to the tree house. Once she got up there she stood up and took a look over. They used to play in this thing everyday. She wondered why they stopped. She looked around more and realized Katie was not even there.

She was about to start climbing down until she looked down. Now she remembered why they stopped coming. The tree they picked was extremely high. When they were little they'd always get dizzy and risk falling. One time Logan actually did and he needed to get a cast for his arm.

She decided to instead of attempting to climb down, call out for the boys. But when she looked, they were gone too.

"Guys!" she called. "I'm stuck!" There was no response.

She sat back and tried to relax, knowing it was gonna be awhile. After a while, she heard rustling. She shrugged it off, thinking it was an animal or the wind. She was proved wrong when Carlos burst through the floor and into the tree house.

"Carlos?"

"Charlie!" he exclaimed. He got up and hugged her tightly. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I am, why?"

"Well, Logan told me that you left for the tree house but never came back. So I went looking for you."

"Why would he say that? He didn't even know why I was here."

"Why are you here?"

"Kendall told me Katie was stuck in here and was too scared to come down. He nor James could come up here so I did. But then I got too scared to come down." There was a thud heard from under them. They looked out the window to see James, Kendall, Logan, and Katie next to a fallen ladder.

"Guys, what are you doing?" Carlos asked. Kendall stepped forward.

"You two have been acting different and you both have problems. You need to talk to each other and work it out."

"So we trapped you inside the tree house." James said referring to the ladder on the ground.

"Who came up with this?" Charloette asked.

"Katie." the boys said. She smiled and waved. She may have been just 7, but her devilish mind developed early.

"Good luck!" The boys and Katie started to walk off, leaving them in the run down tree house.

"Great, now we're stuck in here for who knows how long." Charlie exclaimed. Carlos got up and went towards the back. He lifted one of the floor boards and brought out a bag of chips and soda.

"Here." he said handing her some. She looked at it with disgust.

"How long has that been in there. It's probably all old by now." He shook his head.

"Nah, I got the stuff that could survive for like ever. Although the chips may be a little stale." He opened the bag and took a bite of one. "Not bad." she reached for one and tried it.

"Yeah, it's not." they began eating and looked around the tree house for more stuff. The tree house was pretty big. They had made it when they were 10 and made it like a luxury. It had 2 rooms. One for where they play and keep there things and the other for where they would sleep. They had set up hammocks. Two on one wall, two on the other, and one on the wall in between.

Once they had found all they could find, they layed in the top hammocks across from each other.

"So what do they think we need to work out?" Charloette finally asked.

"I dunno. Maybe cause we've been acting different."

"Have we?"

"Well, I'm not as loud anymore."

"Why's that?"

"Well..." he trailed off. "I've just been having a hard time."

"With what?" he didn't answer. "C'mon Carlos, you can tell me. We're partners in crime. We tell each other everything."

"Okay," he gave in. "My, uh, My grandpa died." he whispered. She took a moment before she sat up in her hammock.

"Oh, Carlos. I'm so sorry." Any close friend of Carlos, would know how he and his grandfather were close. He always inspired Carlos to live life to the fullest, like he did. But now, his life was up.

"It's okay." he said trying to hold back tears. "He's in a better place now." Charloette got off of her hammock and got onto his laying down with him.

"I know this is kinda cheesy but, he's not gone." she put her finger on his heart. "he's right there." Carlos smiled.

"Your right." he said, letting a tear fall. "That was cheesy." they both laughed, whiched cause the mood to brighten a little.

"But seriously though, you will always keep your grandfather alive in your heart. Just start being the old Carlos again. Your Grandpa wouldn't want you to live your life all quiet and not loud. He'd probably tell you, that you needed to break something to get you to your old self again."

"Yeah, your right." he shed another tear, which he wiped away as soon as it let go. "How about you? What happened to my crazy lil Charlie-bear."

"Whadya mean?"

"Well, it seems like your always angry. You mumble to yourself, you always have a mean look on your face. What's the deal?" Charloette smiled.

"When did you get so observant?"

"It's amazing what you notice when you've stopped being loud." Charlie slightly chuckled.

"Well..." she trailed off. "It's nothing serious, like yours. It's probably just childish." Carlos turned to Charloette.

"Dude, we're 12, we are childish." She chuckled again.

"Ok, well my dad got remarried." there was a awkward silence.

"Wow." was all Carlos said.

"Yeah...he called the other day and told me. I talked to her on the phone for a little bit, but that was it."

"So where does the anger come in?"

"Not sure, I think I was just upset because he never even told me, or had me meet her. I mean, I'm his only daughter, you'd think he'd want to introduce me!" she calmed down a bit before continuing. "Or, maybe it was because deep inside, I still thought my parents were just gonna get back together."

An awkward silence that filled the air.

"I mean I knew it was never gonna happen but.." a tear escaped her eyes and fell down her cheeks. "I guess the marriage was like a wake-up call, letting me know that they are divorced and it's gonna stay that way. No matter what I want." she said the last part in a whisper.

Carlos, knowing no other way to comfort the situation, turned to her on the hammock and hugged her deeply. She held onto Carlos' shirt tightly, never wanting to let go. She cried a little bit, and so did he. They cried for themselves, and the other.

They fell asleep after crying all their tears out, saying what needed to be said. They fell asleep on that hammock, Carlos laying on his back and Charlie on her side, with her arm across his chest.

When Kendall, James, and Logan came to check on them. They saw they were in a deep slumber. Instead of waking them, they informed their parents of hwhere they were and let them continue sleeping. They slept in the hammocks too. In case they still needed to talk in the morning.

Thankfully, they didn't. All there problems were solved in that one little tree house. The dark cloud that consumed them, disappeared once they connected again. The Light was finally shining through. No more dark.

* * *

**So that was a continuation of Light, if you didn't know. Light was more of an Intro into this. I know it's been a while, but I was confused with the situation. Sorry if it's not that good. Last minute thing. I hope ya'll had a Happy Thanksgiving and I'll try to post the next chap a lil faster.**


	5. Seeking Solace

Seeking Solace

Friends. They are there for you for the best of times and for the worst of times. They are the ones we can come to when we need advice, or a shoulder to cry on, or even just to talk. And There are 5 friends that do more than that.

Kendall Knight...James Diamond...Charloette Matthew...Logan Mitchell...Carlos Garcia

5 friends. 1 amazing relationship between them. Great friends that have been there for each other when the time called for it.

They were there for Kendall when his little sister was born.

They were there for James when he lost the talent show.

They were there for Charloette when her dad popped up then disappeared the next day.

They were there for Logan when he fell through thin ice.

They were there for Carlos when he got his first concussion.

They were there for Kendall when his dad died.

They were there for James when the hottest girl in school told him he was ugly(and some more explicit things) in front of everyone.

They were there for Charloette when her dad got remarried.

They were there for Logan when his parents split up.

They were there for Carlos when his dad got shot on duty.

They were there for Kendall when he stopped breathing on the ice.

They were there for James when he started to give up on his dream.

They were there for Charloette when she ran away from home.

They were there for Logan when he got bullied.

They were there for Carlos when _he _got bullied.

They were there for each other, throughout all the years they have known each other.

They became friends because they had a great time together.

They _stayed_ friends because they could count on each other.

They looked for comfort in each other.

They were seeking solace in each other.

They found it.

* * *

**This is kinda a look into the future, for up-coming theme challenges. Some may have happened already, others will be soon. And some may not even come at all. I kinda just skimmed through this so I could get started on the next one. I'll be back soon~**


	6. Break Away

Break Away

One of the worst ways to end a relationship is growing apart. It's especially worse if happens without realization until it's too late. Just drifting away...

* * *

"Hey guys!" Logan called over to his friends who were laying in the grass in front of James' house. The 11 year olds sat up and saw their friend at the front of the yard.

"Finally Logie! You've been taking forever!" Charlie yelled patting the space next to her for him to sit. He sat down in the grass.

"Sorry my mom wanted to see my report card before I came over."

"At least we don't have to worry about those for a while." Carlos said in relief. Today was the groups last day of school. Last day of 5th grade. Last day of Elementary School.

"Speak for yourself. I never had to worry." Logan argued. Carlos shot him an annoyed glare then went back to looking up into the clouds along with the others.

"Think about it guys," Kendall said after enjoying the peace a little too long. "in 3 months we'll be 6th graders and in middle school."

"And all going to the same school." James added.

"Well of course, where else would we go?" Carlos asked.

"I don't know, but not all of the kids in our class are gonna be at the school. I'm glad you guys aren't them." There was a pregnant pause.

"W-What if we don't get in the same classes?" Charlie asked.

"That hasn't stopped us in the past." Logan answered.

"Yeah but we don't have recess anymore. What if we don't get to see each other?"

"Well we can always hang after school,"

"and there's still hockey." James said, Carlos finishing for him

"But what if-"

"We'll be okay Charloette." Kendall cut her off. "No matter what happens we will always be best friends."

"Are you sure?"

They all sat up again. Kendall put his arm in the middle of the circle their bodies formed.

"Let's make a pact. No matter what happens in the future we will always stay best friends." Carlos put his hand in enthusiastically while James and Logan put theirs in more calmly. They looked at Charloette expectingly.

She smiled and put hers in too.

* * *

_3 Years Later..._

"So your really going?" Kendall asked him.

"Yeah, so I can get more stage practice." James answered.

"And you?" he turned to face him.

"Have to. I'll better my chances for a scholarship in med school." Logan answered.

The group was in Charloette's living room. James and Logan on the love seat, Kendall sitting on the coffee table staring at them and Carlos and Charloette on the couch, Charloette leaning her head on Carlos' shoulder.

It was their last day of school. Last day of 8th grade. Last day of middle school. And now they were discussing high school. They were all supposed to go to the same one but Logan and James decided to mix it up.

James was going to a theater school. We're they teach you how to act, sing, dance and all that other theatrical stuff.

Logan was going to a fancy prep school on a scholarship that would help him get into a better college.

"Your not mad...are you?" Logan asked looking up and the faces he just turned on.

"No..." Kendall answered.

"Just sad." Charloette finished. "I wanted us to be friends forever."

"We will!" James shouted a little too loud. "We will." he said calmly.

"How do you know? You and Logan are going to different schools. You'll probably make new friends at your new schools."

"That doesn't mean we won't stop talking to you." Logan argued.

"But what if they're a lot more fun than us?"

"Now one could be as fun as you guys."

"But what if your too busy?"

"We'll make time."

"But what if you forget about us."

"Never gonna happen."

"But what if-"

"Charloette!" James yelled popping up from his spot, annoyed at his friends negativity.

"we drift apart." she said in a sad tone. James sat back down when hearing her tone.

Carlos looked up for the first time and looking at James and Logan in the eye. They could see that he was feeling the same way too.

And even though Kendall wasn't making eye contact with them, they new he was just the same as his friends. There was a thickening pause as they started to regret their decision.

"Do you...?" James recalled grabbing everyone's attention. "Remember 3 years ago. We were in 5th grade and it was the last day of school. We were at my house laying in the grass...and scared we were going to be separated."

There was another pause as they recalled the feeling of the grass underneath them, the warmth of the sun radiating on their cool skin, the tousle of their hair lightly as the wind blew, of so softly.

"Do you remember what we did?" he said looking at Logan. The look James gave him helped him regain his confidence to speak and lead the rest of where the conversation was going. So he looked back at his friends strongly.

"We made a pact." he said simply. "A pact that No matter what happened in the future we'd always stay friends. This isn't any different. We'll always be friends. And one day we'll all tell our kids, _together _about how scared we were going to different schools." he joked but came off more serious.

"Are you sure?" Charloette asked like she did all those years ago.

James and Logan outstretched their hands in front of them and looked at their friends expectingly to do the same. Kendall followed suit and Carlos and Charloette got closer and did the same.

"Let's make a pact."

* * *

**Hey guys, just wanted to put this up for my birthday! Yep, April 4th and I just turned 15! Wish me happy b-day! This one is a little odd but that's just what came to me. Hope you liked it~**


	7. Heaven

Heaven

Everyone has a happy place they turn to, their own personal Heaven, if you will. It's the place they turn to in dark times to remind them that everything will turn out okay. That there's no monster to hurt us or the dark to scare us or being alone. It's a little place that makes us feel safe.

* * *

"Okay Class!" Mrs. Berg, the 4th grade teacher called out as the students rushed to sit back down. "Until the end of class we're going to be doing a writing assignment." The class groaned.

"Don't worry, it's easy. Just write about your happy place." One of the kids called out from his table.

"What's a happy place?"

"Well Jimmy," She said sternly, glaring at him cause he didn't raise his hand. "A happy place is a place that's filled with everything and anything you want that makes you feel good. Something you think about when your upset or frustrated. Now get writing and when the bell rings give me your paper before you leave."

They little 4th graders immediately scribbled away with their pens and pencils and one pink crayon held by a random boy who forgot his pencil box at home. After 20 minutes(although it felt like hours) the bell rang and the kids started packing up their things and handed the teacher their papers as she greeted them a happy weekend.

4 boys(that already turned in their paper) were waiting outside the teachers class waiting for their (girl)friend. She finally came out, struggling with the strap of her flash backpack. She got it on and they started walking outside together.

"Oh, Charlie. Your backpack's not zipped. I'll get it." A little brunette said tugging on the zipper.

"Thanks, Logie."

"What took you so long Charlie?" A blonde boy asked putting her arm around her. "We were waiting forever."

"I'm sure it wasn't forever Kendall. And I couldn't find my favorite hat. " she said as she put it on. It was pink and had a purple fluff ball on top of it.

"You always have that hat. What's so special about it?" A little brown boy asked.

"It's lucky, like you helmet Carlos." she said pointing to the black thing in his hand.

"But it's not even that pretty. You should get a new one...with sparkles." Surprisingly a boy said that. He had long hair that went just past his ears.

"Jamie, not everything has to be pretty. I like this cause it has meaning." They started to climb aboard the school bus they had been walking to this whole time. They sat in the middle, Carlos and James in one seat, Logan and Charloette in the seat in front of them, and Kendall sitting on the opposite side with some random kid.

"Also I was finishing up my paper."

"It wasn't that hard." Carlos said which obviously meant something considering her wasn't one for much work.

"I know but I was trying to fit all of it."

"You think you'll get a good grade?" She just shrugged.

"Well I know my happy place was the best." James said leaning back and resting his arms behind his head.

"Oh and what's so great about yours?" Kendall asked.

"My happy place is a beach. And it has a lot of pretty girls. And the waters not too cold and the sun is shining really bright and I have really cool sunglasses on."

"That's lame~" Carlos said.

"My happy place is at a food court. All the food I can eat. And then there's video games in the middle where I can play all I want and no one can tell me to go to bed. Not. Even. My. Parents." The group 'Ooh'-ed at this.

"My Happy place is a Library." Logan started. "I have all the books I can read. Doctor Books, Fantasy books, Mystery books. And I can check out as many as I want and return them whenever I want." Logan sighed dreamily. There was a moment of silence before the boys made a giant raspberry at his idea and laughed. Except Charlie, she just smiled sweetly.

"My happy place is an ice rink." Kendall stated. "I can skate for how ever long I want and they never have to pay for anything and the ice never gets chipped."

"But won't it be boring to be in an ice rink all alone?"

"Well of course I'd have you guys. I'd be no fun." Charlie smiled brighter at that.

"So Charlie, what's your happy place?" She came back from her daze.

"What?"

"What'd you put for the assignment?" Logan asked again.

"Oh, it's a secret." The boys were about to question her but the bus came to a stop and Carlos and Charlie had to get off. They said bye and stepped off the bus.

The bus let off right in front of Charloette's house and Carlos lived across the street and two houses down. She hugged him goodbye and walked down the walkway to her door before Carlos could ask her.

* * *

The next morning, the teacher handed the papers back with grades on them. When Charloette got her she immediately stuffed it in her desk. Most of the other kids told theirs to the class.

Including Carlos, James, Kendall, and Logan. A lot of kids were funny and the whole class laughed. The teacher came up to the front and saw Charloette sinking lower into her desk and not making eye contact. The teacher smiled.

"Charloette." She called, getting her attention and turning all eyes on the little tom-boy. "Would you like to read yours to the class?" She shook her head.

"No thank you."

"Are you sure?" She nodded.

"Yeah, mine's too special to read out loud." The teacher nodded. Her friends eye'd her suspiciously.

'What is so special that she can't say it?' they thought. The teacher dismissed them to recess. Charloette ran out enthusiastically thinking her friends would follow. When she looked over her shoulder she saw no one. She peeked back into the room to see them still sitting at their desk.

"What are you doing guys? Come on!"

"Nah thanks Charlie." James said.

"We're not feeling too well today." Carlos added. She started to step back into the classroom.

"Okay, I'll stay with ya'll." The boys pushed her out of the room.

"No we're okay. Don't want you to waste your time cause of us." Kendall said.

"Yeah, we're just gonna sit and do nothing. Besides there's that huge dodge ball game today. Go play!" Logan said, knowing the one thing that would get her out.

"...M'kay. But just cause it's Dodge Ball. It's nothing personal with you guys." She followed the rest of the kids out to the playground.

When she was out of site, the boys looked around the classroom to see their teacher messing with the computer. They sneaked their way over to Charlie's desk.

They weren't exactly very sneaky. The teacher knew what they were doing. They wanted to see what their friend wrote. She didn't try to stop them though, considering she what was written.

When they opened her desk the first thing they saw was clutter. Trash, wrappers, a million chewed up pencils. Lucky for them her paper was on top. It was slightly wrinkled and you could see in red an 'A +' on top. They looked down at the rest of the paper, reading.

_My Happy Place_

_By Charloette Seth Matthews_

_P.S. I like using my full name, it makes me feel important._

_ My happy place...let's see...Well actually I don't have a happy place. The location doesn't matter to me. It's what's there that matters. My happy place has my family. My dad would be there and I'd tell him all about my day and he'd listen and never stop smiling at what I say. And my mommy would be there making those stews she's always making. I'd be next to her watching her make it and every now and then she asked me if I want a taste. I always say yes. And my brother would be there dressing me up and telling me to stop playing in the mud. Don't tell anyone, but he like putting me in dresses. He says it's cause when I wear them I look like a princess. He makes me feel like a princess._

_ Also of course I'd bring my bestest friends in the world! Carlos would be there holding his helmet and jumping off trees and stuff. He likes doing crazy stuff. I like doing it with him too. Kendall would be there with his hockey stick. In case something bad happens and he has to protect us(even though nothing will cause this is my happy place). Logan would be there telling us what's safe and not. A lot of people find that annoying(some of them our friends) but I like it. It reminds me that he cares for us and wants us to be safe. James would be there looking good as always. Cause to him he has to look perfect. But it doesn't matter cause I think he's always perfect._

_ They'll also bring their family too. You can't invite them and not bring the family. What if they miss them? I'd know I'd miss my mommy. Besides they have cool families(kinda like mine but mine are still better cause they're mine). Although James mommy scares me a little. You can't say no to her. Never. They can also bring their happy places too. Cause I want my friends to be happy. Cause if they're happy, I'm happier! I love my friends and family. So that's why it doesn't matter where I am. As long as I have them I'm set for life._

_ And I do have them. I have all of this(minus a few things). So right now my life is perfect. Right now I'm in Heaven. My little Heaven on Earth. That's my happy place._

_ Oh and also my lucky hat. Have to have that everywhere I go._

They boys couldn't believe what they read. It was amazing. No wonder she wanted to keep it a secret. It was something mighty fierce. When they finished reading was when recess ended and kids started coming back in. They quickly stuffed the paper back in the sloppy desk.

When Charloette came in she gave them rocks...she was hoping they'd feel better so she got them a gift. The boys took their rocks and smiled. They thanked her for their special gift and gave her a big hug that was probably meant for more than just thanking someone for rocks. But Charloette didn't complain.

Throughout the entire day Mrs. Berg watched as the 4 boys treated their friend like she was a princess. Sharpening her pencils, pulling out her chair, giving her the answers(which she's glad she declined otherwise she'd have to interfere). And at the end of the day, Charloette pulled out her perfect paper before leaving and as she walked down the hallway with her boys you could tell she was reading it to them.

The boys smiled the whole way through. Already knowing the words. But as they walked listening once again to her paper, they couldn't help but think that they were in their happy place. Their once place to turn to. Their...

_Heaven On Earth_


End file.
